ENCODE seminar: ‘So Falls the World’ – Collapse Music as Political Protest in the Pre-Apocalypse

Eschatology is the theological study of the end of the world. This seminar invites participants to take on the role of secular eschatologists in considering a corpus of art anticipating an end of the world as we know it. Rather than studying sacred texts, we will listen to music on YouTube. The Reddit community r/collapsemusic describes itself as, “dedicated to the music of the Collapse of Civilization. Doom Mood, abandon-all-hopecore and un-EZ listening“. Participants will consider a selection of songs on the theme of Collapse, from a period ranging from the late 90s to 2026 (with a focus on recent releases) that seem to signal an increasing public feeling of impending apocalypse. The examples of music span genres and national and ethnic contexts, and invite discussions on music as a form of political protest, as carrier or killer of hope, and the possibility that the world is already in some way post-apocalyptic.

The seminar will be guided by Zoheb Mashiur. It is an initiative of the CRAFT and ENCODE research groups.

NB: The talk will be structured around music videos that feature abrasive audiovisual content.

Discography:

• Godspeed You! Black Emperor, ‘The Dead Flag Blues’ (1997)
• End It, ‘New Wage Slavery’ (2022)
• Apashe, Worakls & Wasiu, ‘Rome Is Burning’ (2025)
• Barnaby Jones, ‘Kill The President’ (2025)
• Sons of Kemet w/ Joshua Idehen, ‘Field Negus’ (2021)
• Childish Gambino, ‘This is America’ (2018)
• Ulver, ‘So Falls the World’ (2017)
• Young Fathers, ‘Toy’ (2018)
• Massive Attack w/ Tom Waits, ‘Boots on the Ground’ (April 2026)
• Godspeed You! Black Emperor, ‘Grey Rubble – Green Shoots’ (2024)

The songs are available on this YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOgfLYYeuiFI